Report Highlights Progress on Comprehensive 2020 Sustainability
Goals with a Focus on Women, Water and Well-being
The Coca-Cola Company today released its 12th annual
Sustainability Report highlighting progress made in 2014 against the
Coca-Cola system’s 2020
sustainability goals.
“At Coca-Cola, we’re committed to integrating sustainability into the
very heart of the enterprise, where our efforts create value for our
shareowners and the communities we proudly serve,” said Bea Perez, Chief
Sustainability Officer at The Coca-Cola Company. “We believe the
majority of innovation over the next decade will happen at the
intersection of sustainability and the supply chain. Working together
with our bottling partners to empower women, better manage water
resources and promote well-being gives us
new opportunities to build business resiliency and add value across our
system.”
The report follows the Company’s sustainability framework – “Me, We,
World” – and is rooted in three leadership priorities:
-
Women: 5by20™, one of our value
chain innovations continues progress in its commitment to enable the
economic empowerment of 5 million women entrepreneurs by 2020. As of
Dec. 31, 2014, our 5by20 programs had helped enable nearly 865,000
women in 52 countries since the program launched in 2010.
-
Water: We are also building
business resiliency through our water stewardship efforts. In 2014, we
replenished an estimated 94 percent (a calculated estimate of 153.6
billion liters) of the equivalent amount of water used in our finished
beverages worldwide (based on 2014 sales volume) through 209 community
water partnership projects in 61 countries. The foregoing is a global,
aggregate number. The replenishment figure for individual countries
may vary and/or be more or less.
-
Well-being: The Coca-Cola system
continues its work to meet global business commitments to promote
well-being and to help address the public health challenge of obesity.
In 2014, Coca-Cola introduced more than 400 new beverage options, more
than 100 of which are reduced-, low- or no-calorie and we supported
more than 330 active, healthy living programs in 112 markets.
The report also updates other areas of progress, including efforts to
reduce the carbon footprint of the “drink in your hand” by 25 percent
and to sustainably source key agricultural ingredients globally by 2020.
In addition, through the end of 2014, Coca-Cola had distributed more
than 30 billion fully recyclable PlantBottle™
packages across nearly 40 countries since the program launched in 2009.
The 2014/2015
Sustainability Report demonstrates The Coca-Cola
Company’s commitment to continuous improvement, increased disclosure,
risk assessment and expanded stakeholder engagement. This year, the
Company developed the report at the Core In Accordance level of the GRI
G4 guidelines. Ernst & Young LLP, a registered public accounting firm,
provided independent external assurance on sustainability indicators
related to low- or no-calorie beverages, active, healthy living
programs, water use ratio, PlantBottle™ packaging, lost-time incident
rate, front-of-pack labeling compliance, and greenhouse gas emissions
related to our manufacturing activities.
To view The Coca-Cola Company’s 2014/2015 Sustainability Report,
please visit www.coca-colacompany.com/sustainability.
About The Coca-Cola Company
The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE: KO) is the world's largest beverage
company, refreshing consumers with more than 500 sparkling and still
brands. Led by Coca-Cola, one of the world's most valuable and
recognizable brands, our Company's portfolio features 20 billion-dollar
brands including Diet Coke, Fanta, Sprite, Coca-Cola Zero, vitaminwater,
Powerade, Minute Maid, Simply, Georgia and Del Valle. Globally, we are
the No. 1 provider of sparkling beverages, ready-to-drink coffees, and
juices and juice drinks. Through the world's largest beverage
distribution system, consumers in more than 200 countries enjoy our
beverages at a rate of 1.9 billion servings a day. With an enduring
commitment to building sustainable communities, our Company is focused
on initiatives that reduce our environmental footprint, support active,
healthy living, create a safe, inclusive work environment for our
associates, and enhance the economic development of the communities
where we operate. Together with our bottling partners, we rank among the
world's top 10 private employers with more than 700,000 system
associates. For more information, visit Coca-Cola Journey at www.coca-colacompany.com,
follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/CocaColaCo,
visit our blog, Coca-Cola Unbottled, at www.coca-colablog.com or
find us on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/the-coca-cola-company.
The Coca-Cola Company Forward Looking Statements
This press release may contain statements, estimates or projections that
constitute “forward-looking statements” as defined under U.S. federal
securities laws. Generally, the words “believe,” “expect,” “intend,”
“estimate,” “anticipate,” “project,” “will” and similar expressions
identify forward-looking statements, which generally are not historical
in nature. Forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and
uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from
The Company’s historical experience and our present expectations or
projections. These risks include, but are not limited to, obesity
concerns; water scarcity and poor quality; evolving consumer
preferences; increased competition and capabilities in the marketplace;
product safety and quality concerns; perceived negative health
consequences of certain ingredients, such as non-nutritive sweeteners
and biotechnology-derived substances, and of other substances present in
our beverage products or packaging materials; increased demand for food
products and decreased agricultural productivity; changes in the retail
landscape or the loss of key retail or foodservice customers; an
inability to expand operations in emerging and developing markets;
fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates; interest rate
increases; an inability to maintain good relationships with our bottling
partners; a deterioration in our bottling partners' financial condition;
increases in income tax rates, changes in income tax laws or unfavorable
resolution of tax matters; increased or new indirect taxes in the United
States or in other major markets; increased cost, disruption of supply
or shortage of energy or fuels; increased cost, disruption of supply or
shortage of ingredients, other raw materials or packaging materials;
changes in laws and regulations relating to beverage containers and
packaging; significant additional labeling or warning requirements or
limitations on the availability of our products; an inability to protect
our information systems against service interruption, misappropriation
of data or breaches of security; unfavorable general economic conditions
in the United States; unfavorable economic and political conditions in
international markets; litigation or legal proceedings; adverse weather
conditions; climate change; damage to our brand image and corporate
reputation from negative publicity, even if unwarranted, related to
product safety or quality, human and workplace rights, obesity or other
issues; changes in, or failure to comply with, the laws and regulations
applicable to our products or our business operations; changes in
accounting standards; an inability to achieve our overall long-term
growth objectives; deterioration of global credit market conditions;
default by or failure of one or more of our counterparty financial
institutions; an inability to timely implement our previously announced
actions to reinvigorate growth, or to realize the economic benefits we
anticipate from these actions; failure to realize a significant portion
of the anticipated benefits of our strategic relationships with Keurig
Green Mountain, Inc. and Monster Beverage Corporation; an inability to
renew collective bargaining agreements on satisfactory terms, or we or
our bottling partners experience strikes, work stoppages or labor
unrest; future impairment charges; multi-employer plan withdrawal
liabilities in the future; an inability to successfully integrate and
manage our Company-owned or -controlled bottling operations; an
inability to successfully manage the possible negative consequences of
our productivity initiatives; global or regional catastrophic events;
and other risks discussed in our Company’s filings with the Securities
and Exchange Commission (SEC), including our Annual Report on Form 10-K
for the year ended December 31, 2014 and our subsequently filed
Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, which filings are available from the SEC.
You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which
speak only as of the date they are made. The Company undertakes no
obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements.
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